Mr JOHN COBB (7:09 PM) —Voting is compulsory in Australia. In countries such as America, where it is not, only about 50 per cent of the population vote. In the last ATSIC elections I think fewer than five per cent of eligible people voted. The member for Casey mentioned that we have something to protect here, and certainly we do: the integrity of the Australian population to protect and—as he mentioned, very relevantly—the confidence of the people of Australia that their democracy is just that, a democracy, and that it is not rorted.

It is incumbent upon the Electoral Commission to ensure the integrity of the roll and to ensure that it is not manipulated, that there is no electoral fraud and that other things which are not part of these bills—the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Access to Electoral Roll and Other Measures) Bill 2004 and the cognate Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Enrolment Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2004—like provisional voting and multiple voting, do not occur. I think we could go further than this bill goes. I frankly am astounded that those on the other side of the House opposed this bill at any stage. One can only assume they had their own reasons for doing so, and we will have to leave it up to the parliament of Australia to wonder why they would be against anything as basic as asking for things like proof of identity before you can go on the Australian electoral roll. Members of the Labor Party will have to ask themselves why they could ever oppose such a thing.

The most precious thing that we have in Australia is our democracy and its transparency. I do not know why, when something as precious as that is involved, you would not need proof of identity when, as has been mentioned already this evening, there are any number of things far more peripheral that do require proof of identity, such as being served in a pub or—as has been mentioned here tonight—getting videos. Last week in Dubbo, even though I was well known to the proprietor and I knew my membership number, because I did not have proof of identity they would not give me a video. That is a fact. Yet those opposite opposed this measure originally. We are talking about the transparency of Australia's democracy. Why shouldn't we need identification? It is Australia's future we are talking about. It does not matter whether you are voting in a federal, state or local election—it is not too much to ask. I believe that proof of identity should be required when we go in to vote and that names should be ticked off to prevent things like multiple voting. As to why any of this has been opposed, as I said, we have to make up our own minds.

Another issue is assisted voting. Without doubt, only two people should ever be allowed to go into a voting booth—that is, the voter and, if the voter has a disability or a problem, an impartial Electoral Commission official. That also removes the opportunity for a lot of fraud and manipulation, which I have no doubt has gone on in the past. Electoral fraud has happened, as we all know. It has been the reason for ballots recurring and for court cases. The one thing we must do is ensure that our democracy remains transparent and that, as the member for Casey said, the people of Australia have absolute confidence in the process. As I said, how can we demand proof of age to go into a pub and proof of identity to open a bank account, to simply get a plane ticket, to hire a car or to take a hotel room yet not demand it for something as important as being permanently, for the rest of your life, on the electoral roll to vote in federal, state or local government elections?